Chapter Nineteen Voice in the Darkness

Marith sat on the lavish bed in her gilded prison, her weapons and armor had been taken from her and she knelt in prayer now before the fountain in her room.

“Fesla, I ask for your aid. I have completed your quest and I ask that you aid me in gaining my freedom,” she prayed and reached out for the source of her divine magic but felt her request denied to her calmly but firmly.

She slammed her hand down and stormed out of the room. She ran into a group of women both human and a gnome who surrounded an elegant gnome with a deep blue dress and a crown and a net of gold that bound up her hair. Marith gave a hasty curtsy to the queen as she stumbled back from the group.

“Ah, there you are a child,” the queen said, “I was looking for you.”

“Have you come to give me my freedom?” Marith asked remembering her anger and her voice bristling with her discontent.

“I will forgive that remark, but you had best remember your place, there are worst places to be imprisoned,” the queen said.

“Then I would rather you put me there,” Marith said in challenge, “Rather than comfort yourself in giving an innocent person a comfy cell to disguise your travesty.”

The Queen raised her eyebrow in surprise and scorn. “Is this how a cleric of Fesla conducts herself?” she asked her words barbed to put Marith down.

“This is how the wrongfully imprisoned act, I want to go back to my children, and you are standing in my way,” Marith said crossing her arms.

“I have heard of your children, and of their sire and we cannot risk you giving him warning or aid. As for your children, we have already negotiated with the King of Belgera and we have secured them to ensure your good behavior,” the Queen explained.

Marith’s anger sparked so fast she didn’t even realize she had moved before she looked at all the female retainers sprawled on the ground and the gnome dangling by the front of her dress as Marith lifted her off the ground before her.

“You have imprisoned my children?” she asked her voice a snarl of undisguised furry.

The Queen’s haughty expression was replaced by a look of terror. “They won’t be harmed!” she squeaked.

Marith snarled. “How did the King even get ahold of them? I left them in the care of the Temple!”

“The Temple questioned your loyalties,” the Queen squeaked again.

“I have done nothing to show disloyalty, I did what I set out to and completed my mission!” Marith spat, “And this is how the Temple, Fesla and your Kingdom repay me?”

Marith felt heavy hands grab her arms and pull her back and she looked up to see large constructs haul her away. She growled and struggled to reach for divine power but felt the magic denied to her. She slumped as she was dragged away to the dungeon.

Marith sat in the dark cell and felt hot angry tears on her checks listening to the echo water pooling in a corner of her cell but she didn’t even bother trying to pray to Fesla. She felt hot air brush against her cheek and looked up where the opposite wall of her cell had opened up into a dark forest of leafless trees. Stunned by this puzzling event she stepped out into the forest and looked around.

The land stretched for miles of dark grey and black rocks and dead trees. Far in the distance, she saw a mountain, then she stopped and looked at the mountain again and followed it up up up into the sky where it was revealed not to be a mountain but a tree that stretched into the heavens with branches that covered the sky for a far as she could see. A moon hung in the sky then Marith blinked and found herself looking at a massive eye and felt her access to magic and the enchantments on her armor vanish. She stumbled at the effect as if she had been suddenly deafened or blinded then the eye looked away and she felt her magic return again.

“An odd experience isn’t it?” A deep rumbling voice asked her.

Marith turned and her jaw dropped as she looked at wolf at least the size of a dragon. “You're…you're...” she stammered.

“Pathaldron, Manifestation of Darkness, the Howling Shadow, Master of the Turashen and soon they will call me the Summoning Darkness,” the wolf spoke dipping its head in a bow.

“Why have you brought me here,” Marith asked.

“I have not brought you anywhere this is a dream, I am merely speaking to you through the darkness that surrounds you in your cell, but I thought a face to face while we talked would help for you to understand who I am,” Pathaldron explained.

“What do you want?” Marith asked.

“Why to help you, child, to enlist your services just as I have your husbands,” Pathaldron explained.

“My husband?” Marith asked.

“Yes, he is on a mission now as we speak to take revenge on an old enemy of the both of us, a troublesome creature I have for reasons I cannot explain been unable to deal with,” Pathaldron said prowling around her.

“My services already belong to another god,” Marith said.

“Do they?” Pathaldron asked. “Have you not reached out for the power promised you and had it denied, have you not asked for aid and had it rejected, have not the promises made to you been broken? If you were truly in service to Fesla how would I be able to speak to you?”

“You're trying to trick me,” Marith said even as his words rang true in her heart.

“I do not deceive, Marith,” Pathaldron said his words surprisingly comforting. “I live in darkness, but I also enforce an order. My brother lives in the light, but his realm is one of chaos and infighting. The other gods like Fesla do not trust me I am the only god unaligned with any other who has taken no mate and yet I still stand strong. They fear the power that is why they fear me, your husband and… you.”

Marith took in a deep breath. “What promises can you give me?” she asked.

“My doctrine is very simple: nothing I ask of you is required. You may refuse at any time but once you complete a task, I will reward you with power. I have the ability to spirit away your children and bring them to you if you want,” Pathaldron offered.

Marith’s breath caught at the words. She looked down at the battered dirty blue tabard she wore and tore it off. She knelt on the ash black ground before Pathaldron. “I, Marith, hereby pledge myself to your service as one of the Turashen. I will obey as long as I am given what I am promised and the terms we agreed upon are kept,” she swore.

“Good, you have learned not to blindly put yourself in someone else’s service without ensuring you have gained something from it,” Pathaldron growled in approval. Then Pathaldron stepped forward and pressed his massive paw into the earth before her leaving an imprint as deep as her knees. He leaned over her and slobber dripped down and filled the paw print like a pool of oil.

“What is this?” Marith asked.

“Power, drink,” Pathaldron ordered.

Marith swallowed the bile that rose in her throat knelt down again and cupped her hand bringing up the black liquid and drank.

“What is my first task?” Marith asked standing and whipping her mouth.

“I will teleport you from your cell to a village a few miles north of the city. You will meet some of newest followers there, gather an army and then with it take back the Asternosis Tome,” Pathaldron said.

Marith’s eyes snapped open and she looked down to see her tabard gone and a pair of black boots sitting next to her along with a pair of gauntlets with long clawed spikes protruding from them and a large sack filled with coin. She pulled on the gauntlets and boots and felt the magic flowing through the items. She looked into the shadows and stepped into the darkest one and blinked as she looked out from the shadow of an ally into the bright sunlight.

She moved forward and felt her pace a great deal faster than normal. People stepped out of her way as she moved through the crowd and made her way to a tavern. Sitting in a dark corner she closed her eyes and reached out and touched her new source of power.

Pathaldron, guide me to your servants, she prayed.

Wait, was the reply that she got.

Marith ordered a cold drink to ease from the heat of the day. She looked around and saw a group of five men in the heavy black iron march into the tavern. They sat down at a table in the middle of the room and set down antlered helmets on the table. They had fur cloaks and carried a strange short bladed weapon with a long handle.

Curiously, Marith approached and took up a free chair. The warriors looked at her and Marith saw that only one of them was a woman. Marith snapped her fingers and called over the serving maid.

“A round of drinks for these travelers whatever they would like to drink,” she said.

The warriors nodded to her in thanks. “Thank you, traveler.”

“You're welcome. That is a curious weapon I’ve never seen one like it before,” Marith said gesturing to the weapon slung across one of their backs.

The man pulled the weapon free revealing a scythe blade with a slightly curved handle. “It is a war scythe, the chosen weapon of our God,” the man said in an accent Marith had never heard before.

“Your God?” Marith asked wondering if these were the people she was waiting for.

“We are the illrigger; the warriors of Veshel. We are the leaders of our order we have been going on our sacred mission to travel the world and help train our younger members and help them earn their armor,” the woman among them said.

“How does one earn their armor?” Marith asked.

“We must take the blades and arrowheads from the enemies we slay and gather their bones. Once we have enough weight to make our armor we go a smith of Veshel and bring a creature bludgeoned to death. The bones are burned to melt the metal and armor is cooled and tempered in the blood of man or monster.” The leader among them explained, taking a long drink from a pewter mug. “We travel the land taking any job that wins us glory through death or victory and gains us gold and strength of arms.”

Marith considered them. “Are you on a mission now?” she asked.

“We have just completed one against an orc fortress,” the leader answered.

“How much were you paid for that?” Marith asked.

“The mayor gave us a thousand gold up front and after for our work,” he answered.

“I am looking for warriors for a mission of my own, it is dangerous and could earn powerful enemies,” Marith said vaguely.

The warrior leaned forward interested. “How dangerous do you estimate this being?” he asked his tone sounding exuberant at the thought of battle.

“Deadly,” Marith replied honestly remembering the guards and constructs she had seen.

“All the better, we will take two-thousand upfront and two-thousand after,” he said spitting in his hand and extending it.

Marith spat in her own and shook on the deal. “We now need only wait for the rest of my forces to arrive.”